Hallelujah - Clouis OneShot
by GoofyGomez
Summary: After having a nightmare, Clem finds Louis alone in the music room, and he shares something personal with her. Louis's card games! Rated T for strong language.


Clementine jerked awake, covered in a pool of her own sweat. She'd been having nightmares again after what happened, though this nightmare did not concern the McCarrol Ranch, but Marlon's untimely death, and the person who'd pulled the trigger. Ten days were certainly not enough to forget what AJ had done. She looked around and took in her surroundings. All the little trinkets she'd collected decorated the room, and gave it her own little touch. She looked at the deer skull on top of the door and grinned. _It looks awesome_ , she thought to herself.

Fortunately for them, the rest of the kids had let her and AJ stay, at least until after the raider attack, which didn't seem to be coming any time soon. It certainly had everyone on edge.

She scrubbed the grogginess from her eyes and lifted herself from the less-than-comfortable bed. She took a sad glimpse at the sleeping form of AJ. He'd been getting stronger, but still not strong enough. He'd never been shot before, and she had hoped that had stayed the case for a while longer. On their makeshift nightstand stood the wildflowers she'd found on that bench, though now their purple color had faded somewhat into grey.

"I'll have to water them or AJ'll have my head when he recovers," she said to herself, frowning at the thought. _If he ever recovers, that is_.

"No, stop it Clementine," she scolded, "He's gonna be fine."

She didn't know how long she'd been talking to herself, but she estimated it had been around three years. Was she going crazy? No, she just needed someone other than AJ to talk to, that was all. She decided that she wasn't helping anybody by standing around, so with a swift motion she grabbed her trusty hat and made her way to the courtyard.

Looking around, she couldn't find a soul, which was strange. _Maybe it's earlier than I thought_ , she reasoned. The sun was barely scraping the roof of the school and yesterday really had been an exhausting day. Clearing the debris from around the school had not been an easy task, so everyone had volunteered to help in one way or another.

On a hunch, she turned around and walked into the admin building. Walking around the place seemed odd, like she didn't really belong there. Of course, that much was true. She and AJ were merely outsiders to this place, guarded so strongly for close to nine years. And now it was preparing for a war with a group of raiders who were ready to take kids for their own battle up north.

Before Clem could delve further into her own thoughts, a soft, sweet sound caught her attention and she stood still, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. She rotated slowly on the spot, until she realized there was only one place that sound could be coming from. Sighing, Clem walked down the hallway and opened the door to the music room, which was ajar.

Inside, she saw the hunched figure of Louis sitting on the piano stool, playing a soft melody that seemed to envelop the entire room as he played it. Clementine leaned on the doorframe for a moment, admiring Louis's music. After a few minutes, Louis stopped abruptly and stiffened. Clem took a step forward and let out a breath,

"Hi, Louis," she greeted lamely, hoping against hope that she hadn't been the reason he stopped playing.

For a moment, Louis didn't stir. He sat on the stool, perfectly still, looking at the keys with a sunken look in his eyes. The girl was about to talk again when he turned around and smiled at her. A real, genuine smile. It was the first one she'd seen him wear since that fateful night ten days ago. A silent, grieving Louis was much sourer than a happy, gleeful one, Clem gathered.

"Oh hey there, Princess," he said with a wink in her direction, causing her eyes to roll and the beginnings smile to form on her lips.

"I hate it when you call me that," she warned, trying as hard as she could to fight off the urge to keep smiling. She moved closer and sat on a small chair beside the piano stool, facing Louis.

"Yet here you are," he rebuked, turning his attention back to the piano and pressing a couple of keys with no real pattern to it.

Silence fell between them once again as Louis started playing the beautiful song again. It filled Clementine with a joy and serenity that she hadn't felt in a long time. It was as though, while that song was playing, everything that was going on outside came to a standstill. Time stopped for the two of them, and the only thing in the world was this room.

Then, to both Clem and Louis's surprise, he started singing. It was a beautiful sound, Clementine decided, and the words seemed to roll off his tongue so elegantly, as though he'd sung that a thousand times over. She had the overwhelming urge to close her eyes, almost as if that would bring the lyrics closer to her heart.

" _I've heard there was a secret chord_

 _That David played and it pleased the lord,_

 _But you don't really care for music do you?_

 _It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth_

 _The minor fall, the major lift_

 _The baffled king composing,_

 _Hallelujah."_

Although Clem was clearly enthralled by the words being sung by Louis, the boy stopped singing and glanced at her, careful to keep playing the tune. She was so beautiful when she didn't know she was being watched, Louis thought. The way her curly brown hair rolled over her face from behind her hat; the way her lips curled upwards as the muscles on her face relaxed and became accustomed to the music. There was really only one word to describe her, Louis gathered: breathtaking.

After a few moments of not hearing any singing over the piano, Clementine opened her eyes and eyed Louis quizzically. He was staring at her with a smile on his face. What was he looking at? Did she have something on her face?

"Why did you stop?" was all she could say when she realized the song probably had more than just the one verse.

Louis thought hard about the next words he said, before settling for, "would you like me to teach you? I am the best piano teacher in the world, currently," he finished with a cheeky grin.

At the request, Clem's golden eyes lit up with a sparkle that Louis figured had been lost long ago. He didn't know why he knew this, but her demeanor around other people suggested she hadn't had such a fun time growing up. Well, who had, anyway?

"You could do that?" her words cut through his thoughts and Louis put on his signature smile back on.

"Of course," he assured her, "c'mere."

Nodding, Clem sat beside Louis on the piano stool and set her small hands hovering over the keys. She eyed the piano with hesitancy, as if it was about to come to life and eat them both. Louis swiftly took her hands in his and moved her fingers to be over the C key, the E key and the G key.

"You know, for a walker killing machine you have the softest hands," he commented before finishing the final touches to her hand placement. Clem couldn't help but blush at his comment, though the reason for it was a mystery to her. Why was she embarrassed about that of all things?

"Uh, thanks?" she said uncertainly, her eyes darting from her mentor to her right hand forming the C chord on the piano.

"You're very welcome," he said, still smiling that devilish smile that seemed to light up the room more than the sun streaming from the high windows. "Now, you've got the placement down. Just press those three at the same time," he instructed, pointing at her right hand.

She did as he said, and smiled at the sound that she had created. It wasn't anything special, obviously, but it amazed her nonetheless. After trying a few times and perfecting that chord, they moved onto the other two. It took less than half an hour to learn the rest of the sequence, by which time Louis was ecstatic.

"You're a damn natural, Clem," he kept saying whenever she managed to string all four chords together. "Now it's starting to sound more like it," he encouraged, which made Clem smile.

She didn't know what it was about him, but at that moment, she felt safe. Thoughts of the impending raider attack were pushed from her mind completely, and the horrors she had experienced lately were greatly diminished while they were in each other's presence.

Louis felt his face hurting from smiling so much, and wondered how it was that he could be this way after what had happened barely ten days ago. Of course, he knew that already. He was with Clem. There wasn't much to it, and he knew the reason he seemed to forget the world when they shared time together.

While Clem kept playing the four chords over and over, Louis cleared his throat and started singing again, this time starting with the second verse.

" _Your faith was strong but you needed proof,_

 _You saw her bathing on the roof_

 _Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you._

 _She tied you to the kitchen chair_

 _She broke your throne, she cut your hair_

 _And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah."_

Clementine must have zoned out somewhere during that verse, because before she realized she had closed her eyes and kept on playing from memory.

"Look at me, Louis!" she called enthusiastically, careful to keep her eyes closed as her fingers gracefully moved from a C chord to an Am chord.

"That's great, Clem, I knew you were a natural," he exclaimed. Only he wasn't looking at her hands, but at her. The way her face lit up when she realized she could play with her eyes closed could have illuminated the courtyard, had it been night. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement, and she was laughing.

A genuine Clementine laugh was not something Louis got to experience often, so he soaked it in while it lasted. After a few seconds of hearing no more feedback, Clem opened her eyes and glanced at Louis. The question that had been forming in her mind finally made its way to her lips.

"Louis?"

"Hm?" he questioned, turning to the girl sitting beside him.

"Why were you here today?"

Boy, was that a question. Louis's featured contorted into a frown and he looked away for a moment. It was no use hiding it from her; she had a way with faces, he knew.

"I wanted to tickle the ivories once more before the raiders come knocking," he said nonchalantly, but frowned when Clem's concerned parent look locked onto him. Sighing, he looked down at his hands.

"I just… wanted to play that song again. It's been a minute," he confessed, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

As she stopped playing, Clem placed a tender hand on his forearm and looked up into his chocolate eyes. Those damn, beautiful eyes. _What's wrong with you, Clementine? Be there for him_ , she chastised herself.

"How long has it been?" she asked him softly, turning on the stool to face him fully.

"Last time I played it, it was on Marlon's fifteenth birthday," he told her, looking away again, fighting tears that threatened to break surface with his eyes.

"Oh," was all Clem could muster when he shared that information. She knew Louis hadn't been himself lately, and that was entirely because of the lack of one very important person. Marlon had been his best friend, his _brother_ , and Clem and AJ had taken that away from him as quickly as two days after they'd saved them.

"Yeah," he replied lamely, looking into her eyes with a sad smile on his face.

Before she realized, Clem opened her arms and embraced the boy in the most motherly hug she could muster. She cursed herself for being so awkward, but Louis actually leaned into the hug, wrapping his long arms around her and sniffing softly. They stayed like that for a few minutes before breaking apart and straightening themselves.

Louis was the first to recover from the wave of emotions that overtook both of them after that rather personal exchange. "Thank you, Clementine. I know I've been a dick lately, and I'm sorry. Haven't really been the amazing companion I usually am. I just needed some time, you know?"

Clem shook her head and smiled at the boy, "you have nothing to apologize for. You had every right to be mad. I would have been, too," she confessed, knitting her brows together in concern for Louis.

A soft chuckle left Louis's lips, and Clem thought she was making progress. He raised his head until they were face to face and at that moment Louis realized something. He would have to stop sitting on his ass, and start acting. The past was gone, and he had to think of the future. With a long sigh, Louis straightened his shoulders and cleared his throat.

"Um, Clem?" he said softly. _Such a smooth talker; damn it Louis,_ he cursed himself.

Her golden eyes scanned his hard features slowly before settling on his eyes. She looked deep in thought as well, though what thoughts troubled that beautiful mind of hers, Louis didn't know. She nodded for him to continue and he did.

"Okay, I'm gonna get serious for a moment," he began, nodding along as he said the words he'd rehearsed over and over in his head.

Clem's eyes opened wide and she quickly placed the back of her hand on his forehead. "Oh my god, Louis, are you feeling okay? Should I get Ruby?" she mocked him, making a sizzling sound as she removed her hand.

"Ha ha, hilarious," he laughed, rolling his eyes. "I thought I was the jokester here."

"I know, I am too," she reminded him, though she could sense he was actually being serious when he didn't laugh at that. "Right, sorry. Continue."

"I've been battling with myself for the last two weeks, and it hasn't really been easy," he started, fumbling over his own words and frowning at his awkwardness. Clem encouraged him with a smile and he sighed.

"Okay, I'm just gonna say it. I like you, Clem. As in, like-like you," he explained, topping it all with a cheeky smile that contrasted with Clementine's shocked expression.

The following seconds were a blur of emotions in Clem's head. The first of which was astonishment. _Louis likes me? Likes me, likes me?_ she kept thinking. She started grasping at the pieces of the puzzle and understanding took over her features. It all made sense now.

The senseless flirtations at every possible opportunity; Louis's insistence that she come with them on hunting trips, even though they weren't really speaking at all; his stupid query about her ever having had a boyfriend. _Louis really liked her_.

She racked her brains for something to say back to that, and came up empty. The truth was that she liked him too. As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, she had grown quite fond of Louis in the past two weeks. Not only that but, even if Louis hadn't told her, she knew he'd been the one to help AJ up after Marlon pushed him onto the ground. That had been the first time someone other than Clementine came up behind AJ and came out uninjured. She realized then that AJ must have really looked up to him to trust him the way he would trust Clem.

She couldn't really lie, either; she did think he was cute. From the moment they met, that fact had been in the back of her mind almost constantly, but now it flew right past her eyes in front of her and screamed at her to go forward. Louis's voice cut through her thoughts like a knife.

"Oh no, I've made it awkward," Louis exclaimed, "whelp, gonna go throw myself into the river and never come back," he started to get up but was yanked back down by Clem, who took a moment to look into his chocolate brown eyes before doing something she'd never done before.

She kissed him.

It was a sweet kiss, filled with the underlying feelings they were both feeling as they embraced. She felt as though she was sitting on a cloud, and she never wanted to come down. She couldn't actually describe the feeling, though. It just _fit._

As they broke apart, both panting from the intensity of the situation they now found themselves in, Louis searched her features for any indication that that was real. He thought he might be imagining things, but he could have sworn she was grinning with her eyes closed. _She kissed me?_ was his only thought.

"I like-like you too, Louis," she finally said, breathless. Even after that kiss, Louis was still baffled that those words had come out of her beautiful mouth. He took a second to savor the moment before saying,

"Wait, so when you said you had feelings for someone back at that game, you meant me?"

Blushing, Clem pursed her lips and looked away. "Yes," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Holy shit, it's me!" he exclaimed, eyes wide as plates as he took in this new-found information.

Another kiss from Clementine shut him up for good. They embraced tenderly sitting as close to each other as the rickety piano stool would allow them. After a good few minutes, Clem broke apart from him and glanced at him quizzically.

"By the way, what was that song called?" she asked, the twinkle in her eye making her even more beautiful. _As if that was possible,_ thought Louis with a grin.

"Hallelujah," he said, embracing her again.


End file.
